Patience is a virtue, I'm told, it's just not one of mine. Which is why it's taken me so long to revisit Quod on Oxford's High Street. Having attended the opening night in 1999, when, as expected, it took several hours to get our food, I'd left a sensible
Sir - The Lord Mayor of Oxford should support BMW and carry the torch for green vehicles. He would also be showing the way for the Government to make it possible for us all to move to greener private and service vehicles. The answer is obvious: BMW has
Nearly two years after it was approved, a £1.5m project to redevelop the Thameside boat centre in Abingdon has run aground over the terms of a new lease. Thameside owner Len Baker blames delays on the Vale of White Horse District Council, which owns the
Henley must win the Division 1 title all over again this weekend, after being docked points by the league. The Oxfordshire side thought they had clinched the championship last weekend by thrashing nearest rivals Slough. But the league's decision to penalise
Can we have our castle walls back? That is the tongue-in-cheek question to be put by Wallingford mayor Theresa Jordan to the Royal Family as part of Wallingford's celebrations to mark the 850th anniversary of the town's charter. The walls of Wallingford
BANBURY Borough bowler Alan Prew's tremendous run in the National Express All England singles at Worthing came to end with a 21-15 defeat by Yorkshire's Mark Walton in the semi-finals. Prew (right) was always struggling after his opponent, who went on
FORMER Oxfordshire cricketer Ben France has fulfilled a lifetime ambition by breaking into the first-class game. The 22-year-old left-handed opening batsman has been registered by Derbyshire for the rest of this season, with the offer of a two-year contract
OXFORDSHIRE sports fans will have the chance to see all five members of Britain's silver medal-winning Olympic eventing team in action when they compete at the Blenheim Petplan International Horse Trials on September 9-12. As usual, a bumper entry, comprising
History's love affair with tousle-haired Che Guevara receives an unnecessary shot in the arm with Walter Salles's fervent biopic of the revolutionary-minded medical student's gap year. Che toured South America in 1952 as a young medical student with his
An organisation that trains disadvantaged people in Banbury is calling on Cherwell District Council for help to find new premises. The Ethnic Minority Business Service (EMBS), based in two small rooms above shops in Parson's Street, runs free courses
Banbury United manager Kevin Brock is refusing to press the panic button, despite seeing his side slump to the foot of the Southern League Premier Division table after their midweek defeat at Halesowen. Brock, whose side have managed just one point so
Andy Lyne takes charge of his 1,000th game as a manager when Wantage Town take on Shortwood United at Alfredian Park tomorrow. Lyne, who celebrated his 52nd birthday on Tuesday, first took up a manager's job for Oxford Sunday League side Falcons in 1981
PE lessons may qualify as a fresh subject for movie treatment, but in this film staleness reigns as first-time writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber relies on tired, comedy standbys, such as gays, fat girls and racial caricatures. In pitting the fortunes
Indian-born writer-director M. Night Shyamalan forged his reputation as a film-maker of daring and audacity with his thriller The Sixth Sense. His comic book fantasy Unbreakable and alien invasion thriller Signs have similarly delighted audiences, not
There would be huge disappointment if plans for a multiplex cinema in Didcot were abandoned, according to a senior district councillor. Critics of the plans including householders in Victorian railway cottages who will be overshadowed by the cinema were
Ratty is back in the watercress beds nature reserve in Ewelme. After being wiped out by mink four years ago, Ratty and his friends - water voles - are making a strong comeback. A survey by warden Des Dix showed an increasing number of voles and their
Olympic gold medallist Leslie Law will be the star of the show when the Blenheim Petplan International Horse Trials get under way next month. Britain's first Olympic gold winner for 32 years will also be joined by his colleagues from the silver medal-winning
Villagers are being warned to take no notice of a hoax letter claiming that a parish council is raffling off an all-expenses-paid funeral to raise funds for a new burial ground. Horspath Parish Council chairman Peter Walker attacked the letter sent out
Oxford's Green Party has drawn up a pollution-busting 10-point plan after the city topped the UK's pollution league in a survey. The Oxford Mail revealed yesterday (Friday August 27) that a Calor survey claimed spending a day in the city centre was equivalent
A specialist cancer hospital for Oxford will fight Britain's biggest killer with art as well as science. "Beauty that soothes the spirit can help the body," will be the pioneering mantra of the £80m Oxford Cancer Centre, to be built on the site of the
MARK Rawle, the player with the best goalscoring record of anyone at the Kassam Stadium, is to undergo a programme of strengthening exercises to get himself fit enough to play. The former Southend striker has yet to play this season because of a troublesome
Sir - Two years ago, a chicane was installed to slow traffic by Horspath village hall where you enter the village. This stretch of road had no accident record, but since the chicane was installed, there have been several accidents, in one of which an
A nanotechnology company working with microchips less than one millimetre square but containing a wealth of electronic information has won a £678,000 grant. The Department of Trade and Industry grant to Applied Microengineering, Didcot, is among the first
Sir - It was with disgust that we read the proposal by senior Oxfordshire Labour politician John Power that subsidies for rural bus services should be withdrawn (Oxford Mail, August 18). His statement that "we're wasting taxpayers' money in pursuit of
A heavily pregnant Filipino nurse who left her country to work in Oxford says she is being forced to send her children home as she cannot afford accommodation while on maternity leave. Cates Nepomuceno with sons John, left, and Jason Cates Nepomuceno,
Oxfordshire's wettest August ever is having a crippling effect on the county's farmers and could cause more damage to the industry than the foot and mouth disease crisis in 2001. Farmer Paul Caudwell wrings out an ear of wheat RAF Brize Norton, which
The Monday Night Blues continues with a performance by one of Britain's most versatile -- and funky -- bluesmen. Giles Hedley is known on both sides of the Channel for his talent for captivating entire audiences with his singing, and for his acclaimed
One of the surprise acts at this weekend's Reading Festival will be Boston Celtic Punk crew Dropkick Murphys. Fortunately you don't have to spend the next couple of days surrounded by over-enthusiastic kids slinging around over-priced lager to be able
James Harle, a former keeper at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, has died aged 84. Mr Harle was keeper of the Department of Eastern Art at the Beaumont Street museum from 1962 to 1987. In 1951, Mr Harle took his wife on a trip to India and it was this
The saga of the 'bombs' on board two lorries is an extraordinary affair. Two lorry drivers received an emergency message from their bosses to say their vehicles might be carrying Second World War devices. They did everything right. They pulled into a
There will be some nervous people in the Olympic Stadium in Athens tomorrow morning -- none more so than Angela Whelan. Who can blame her? After all, it's not every day you get to watch your son competing at the world's greatest sporting event. When Oxford's
Licensing laws caused a village charity picnic to be cancelled because organisers had booked a jazz trio -- and only two musicians can perform without a licence. The picnic was to be held in the spacious gardens of a former ambassador's home in the west
Thame United Football Club and Thame Cinema4All are combining their efforts to get the football season off to a rousing start with a free family evening. There will be a showing of the film Grease complete with all the words on display for a singalong
Banbury are celebrating a double success as both their Men's A and B teams secured promotion in the Wilson OLTA Inter-Club 3-Pair League. Their first team thumped Woodstock 7-1 in Division 2 to secure promotion back into the top flight with an impressive
Romantic novelist Jacquie Walton has kissed goodbye to girl meets boy stories and turned to a life of crime. After writing 14 romantic stories for several publishers, Jacquie, 42, has now had her first crime novel, A Narrow Escape, published by Robert
A 38-YEAR-OLD man appeared at Wantage Magistrates' Court to face four charges of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 13. Richard Corke, of Sinodun Road, Didcot, was also charged with seven related incidents of indecent assault on
ABINGDON-BORN midfielder Dean Whitehead was singled out for praise this week by Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy. The former Oxford United star, who joined the Black Cats in the summer, made his full Sunderland debut in last weekend's Coca-Cola Championship
Sainsbury is to revamp a shopping mall it owns as part of the redevelopment of Bicester town centre. The supermarket chain bought the Crown Walk mall, which runs between Market Square and Sheep Street, for more than £13m earlier this year. It will be
Retired veterinary surgeon William Morrison Milne, who had practices in Bicester and Kidlington, has died aged 86. Mr Milne, known as Bill, opened a practice in Bicester in an area known as Evans Yard, in 1963, and travelled around the country working
The Oxford Silver Machine went down to a 58-37 defeat to Poole Pirates at Wimborne Road. After a series of rain-offs, Oxford looked decidedly rusty and were never really at the races in this Elite League clash. They got off to a horrendous start as the
No one could accuse Embrace of being work-shy but even they were shocked at the sheer trauma involved in creating their latest album. The band spent three months in the studio with producer Youth making the expressive and emotive Out Of Nothing -- and
Sainsbury is to revamp a shopping mall it owns as part of the redevelopment of Bicester town centre. The supermarket chain bought the Crown Walk mall, which runs between Market Square and Sheep Street, for more than £13m earlier this year. It will be
North Oxford greengrocer ABC Produce says it is the latest victim of Marks & Spencer's arrival in Banbury Road. ABC says it is giving up its fight to compete with the retail giant which opened a food store in Summertown two years ago. Kate Hamilton
Calor has found a striking way of describing the pollution in Queen Street, Oxford, by suggesting a day of inhalations there would fill you with as much nitrogen dioxide as 61 cigarettes. The alarmist imagery will not be to everyone's taste but the firm's
More and more cars are being driven on our roads every year and that means more vehicles are being scrapped than ever before. The problem of abandoned vehicles is growing with Oxfordshire no exception and the cost to the environment of dealing with them
Scientists in Oxford are undertaking a £2m mission to uncover how different races, tribes and invaders have influenced the genetic make-up of Britain. The project, masterminded by Sir Walter Bodmer and his team at Oxford University's Weatherall Institute
Abingdon Town Council is to write to the Co-op in a bid to persuade it to abandon plans to build a modern store in the town. But the Oxford, Swindon & Gloucester Co-op is standing firm and insists the cutting-edge design is the right one. In what
SKYBET Elite League LEADERS Poole Pirates were made to walk the plank in no uncertain fashion as Oxford Silver Machine inflicted a thumping 65-29 defeat at Oxford Stadium last night. The Pirates, who clearly didn't relish the tricky racing surface were
Motor insurance premiums could soon be calculated on how often, where and when people drive their cars, if a pilot scheme proves successful. A "pay-as-you-drive" pilot scheme involving hundreds of drivers is now being conducted by insurance company Norwich
Citroen has taken the wraps off its new sporty supermini, the C2 VTS, the new flagship of the C2 range. Citroen's new sporty supermini The VTS has been designed to combine performance motoring and high specification with low insurance at a starting price
Sir - Hasn't it crossed anyone's mind that engaging "junior wardens" to report petty criminals, especially in return for treats, on certain Oxford estates (Oxford Mail, August 23) could easily lead not only to malicious denunciations, but to serious reprisals
Sir - How nice to read (Oxford Mail, August 25) the sense of responsibility Oxford city councillors have when it comes to attending meetings about the annual accounts. It gives me so much confidence in these councillors, the way they look after council
